The Red Bull Global Rallycross Atlantic City rounds 8 and 9 were everything they were cracked up to be and then some. It was my first time participating in a professional Rallycross event even though I have gotten a small taste of it at NJMP a few years ago with Rally America… but nothing could have really prepared me for what took place over the weekend. Not even Ken Block doing some Gymkhana at the opening round of V8 Supercars at Clipsal 500 in Australia, where I got to see him fling a similar Ford Focus WRC around a street course.

The sounds. The noise. The sights. The dust. The close racing. The banging and smashing of cars fighting for the same piece of tarmac. It was amazing. And I got to experience it from a very special spot where the asphalt turned into a sandy path around a 180 degree turn. It was fantastic and I’m a huge fan of GRC now.

But nobody really cares about my opinion of how cool marshaling is, people care about cars and racing, and celebrity drivers. So here’s some pix post-race. From parc ferme. The scrutineering. Post race inspection of the winning cars. Both of Supercars and Supercar Lites. It was amazing and I hope I get another chance to work this awesome event, wherever that may be!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Special thanks to Chris for driving down to use my guest passes and to spectate, and of course take some pix for me after the race. Always nice to have a photographer on hand!

The rest of my pix were selfies. I got to work Turn 2 with awesome views of the Atlantic City skyline across the intercoastal waterway. The water got pretty busy on Sunday with a ton of boats, paddle boarders and jet skiers stopping by to watch the racing. Saturday though we had stormy and wet weather. At one point we were pulled off station because of lightning in the area.

Next day it was a different story, very sunny and dry… which of course meant massive dust clouds.

I found myself using two bandanas, both to protect my face and neck from sunburn but also to shield myself from getting sandblasted. I was only feet away from flying cars, going sideways into a corner.

Some of the dust clouds made it in on the inside of my glasses.

My area of responsibility…

They fed us well, and of course there was plenty of Red Bull on offer.

First TRUMP nuked Atlantic City, and now he’s working on a bigger picture… SAD!

On the way back North, Chris and I hit a local seafood place for some dinner… it was awful! The $15 ceviche appetizer turned out to be a plate full of cooked shrimp with some tostitos salsa in the middle. Ugh! That was probably the only downer of the weekend.

But I have nothing but praise for the Red Bull GRC event, and again I’d love to work another one of their races somewhere in the future!

The coolest part of the whole Red Bull GRC Atlantic City weekend for me, was the driver’s parade along the Boardwalk.

Why was it so cool?

In my opinion any time the series takes it’s presence, the cars, the drivers, the ambiance out in the public and brings the show to the ordinary people… that I think is the best thing they can do to promote the sport. And I commend the Red Bull GRC folks for organizing their driver’s parade right in the heart of AC, the place where everybody goes… the Boardwalk!

Naturally, I took a million pix…

Team Red Bull Honda getting ready to leave the paddock on Bader Field for the driver’s parade on the Boardwalk.

I rushed out and found a nice parking spot a block from the Kennedy Plaza where the teams were to have an autograph session.

The Boardwalk to me brings a lot of memories. My family and I used to go to Atlantic City a lot. Especially in the summer time… back when my father had a mild gambling problem, and we all joined him to go out on the boardwalk for a slice of pizza, and some go-cart racing on the Steel pier. I got my first speeding ticket just outside of AC where the Parkway meets the Atlantic City Expressway. Good times… Although the current state of the city, and it’s major attraction is a bit sad. This place used to be packed, super crowded… and now, even the seagulls left (they used to swoop down and terrorize unsuspecting tourists, with food in their hands). But it is what it is. And I’m glad the Red Bull GRC is breathing a little life into this city. It’s worth pointing out that according to a local cop working security detail for this event, all casinos remain open except those that used to display TRUMP on their buildings. Go figure…

And then the crowds swooped in…

If the background looks familiar, you may have seen it on TV not that many moons ago… it was the venue for the Miss America pageant…

I love the fact that teams allowed spectators, especially kids, to climb in their cars and get a closer look. Get the fans involved!

There’s that 600+hp turbo east of an engine…

At most Motorsport events I focus so much on the venue and the racing I forget to check out the surrounding area. The main attraction of Atlantic City in the summer time of course is it’s beach… and while I didn’t get a chance to go for a swim, it was nice to at least walk by the water at sunset.

and take some selfies…

During the autograph session the first 100 patrons received weekend guest passes for the race along with other prizes from teams and the series. That was really neat! (and probably propped up the numbers in attendance for the weekend)

The maga photo gallery from Red Bull Global Rallycross at Bader Field, Atlantic City continues. Here was a great opportunity to take some shots of complete cars (not when they’re in pieces in the team garage in the paddock) going around the track without getting in trouble (since we can’t take pix on station).

This was pretty awesome! And a great preview of things to come for the rest of the weekend. I was surprised to see cars shredding parts on the very first jump… bumpers flying off, etc.

The airport field provided a gorgeous backdrop of the Atlantic City skyline across the intercoastal waterway… it was beautiful!

Not sure what “Racing 4 Detroit” is, but I support the idea!

Props to the GRC crew for providing lunches for volunteers throughout the event weekend. Friday it was Popeyes chicken day.

My first Red Bull Global Rallycross event in Atlantic City was a great success. So much cool stuff to check out, it was a sensory overload.

I’ll start by sharing some pix… from the paddock when I first arrived:

The two hour drive (no traffic) from home to Atlantic City was nice and uneventful… I stopped at one of the service areas and what do you know? There was a Red Bull display promoting this event… I couldn’t wait to check out the 600+ horsepower Civic “Supercar”

Was able to park right in the middle of the paddock between the Red Bull Honda team and one of the Supercar Lites teams… another Miata was already there, a fellow volunteer for the weekend.

And then the garages started opening with people prepping the Supercars and Supercar Lites for Media rides later in the day:

Surprised to see CORE Autosport here wearing the same paint job as their Porsche 911 efforts in IMSA, but then the surprise wore off as I realized there were many major teams present from other series, like Andretti Autosport and Team RLL from IndyCar

Vee Dub with their Manufactuer plated Atlas SUV that also wore a Watkins Glen NASCAR Xfinity series parking pass… Hmm

Probably the most “famous” cars of the weekend. A slightly modified version of the rental car I drove from NY to Florida last year…

I was debating whether to drive down to AC early in the morning on race day Saturday or spend the extra $80 bux for a hotel on Friday night and be a tourist for the day…. naturally I’m really glad I did spend the money (although frugal me has a hard time justifying paying almost double for a hotel room that usually goes for $49 a night… but it’s peak tourist season in South Jersey where everyone hits the beach in the summer).

Also glad I showed up early because I would not have had the opportunities I had on Friday to take pictures during the rest of the weekend. Especially since my station was fairly remote and away from the paddock. So glad I was able to be here Friday!

And now for something completely different… this weekend will be my first opportunity volunteering for the Red Bull GRC being held at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey

Other than watching a few YouTube video highlights I know nothing about this series, so a good start to familiarization is with a spotter guide… the GRC web site doesn’t have much other than last year’s guide so I snagged their previous race one assuming most cars will wear the same livery. and as one would imagine car liveries change from race to race, so the same day I posted the Indianapolis spotter guide the Red Bull Global Rallycross web site released the correct spotter guide for Atlantic City:

Supercars:

Photo credit: redbullglobalrallycross.com

Lites:

Photo credit: redbullglobalrallycross.com

This is probably the best guide on their web site for the Lites, as part of the Pick 5 Fantasy rallycross game.

Added on August 14, 2017… notice something interesting? The CORE Autosport team from IMSA is here complete with their driver line up. Similarly the majority of the other teams had a strong IndyCar affiliation with Andretti Autosport and RLL teams fielding very strong entries.

I just registered for an event I sort of knew about but put on a backburner for so long I realized that I don’t know anything about it. And so after significant research about both the series and the venue, I decided I must take part in it as a marshal.

The series: Red Bull Global RallyCross or GRC

The venue: Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey

This event will take place in early August on the same weekend as the NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at Mid-Ohio… so suffice to say I will not be driving all day to Ohio when I can go to South Jersey in just under three hours (or more since everyone will be heading down the Jersey Shore during the summer…)

What is it? I suspect it is a lot like Rally America event I participated in years ago at NJMP (which is also in South Jersey about half an hour away from Atlantic City). The cars will race part on asphalt and part on dirt. What’s different is that at GRC there will be more cars, I understand up to 10 cars at once. And there will be massive jumps involved. And having worked a number of races with the Robbie Gordon Stadium Super Trucks… it’s a no brainer that anything involving cars and high jumps brings the fucking crowds and makes them go wild. Mix in a little Red Bull and everyone acts like they got wings! … or so I speculate. Here’s an official promo video, which seems to put a ton of emphasis on the crashes:

I’ve been to Atlantic City a million times. Back in high school my dad had a gambling problem and I’d drive him there once a week it seems to feed the addiction. He’d lose money and I’d hang out on the Boardwalk. When the rest of the family would come down we’d go to the piers for Go Karts and everyone would have a jovial time. When I got a bit older I started going down to Atlantic City for conventions at one of the many Casino’s. It has been years since I’ve gone back and I am fully aware that the city has gone through major financial woes. But it is still a city on the ocean, with a beach, Boardwalk, and attractions for people to come from all over the area during the summer months. There’s a direct rail link with Philadelphia and so this GRC event will probably be packed.

(as an aside, Bader Field is an old decommissioned Atlantic City Municipal Airport with both air and seaport capabilities, that more recently hosted a minor league baseball team, a bunch of concerts and plays as home to South Jersey SCCA rallycross venue in the summer months according to Wikipedia hmmm!)

From the races I’ve seen posted about on Facebook the events are as popular as MotoGP or many Formula Drift events. Red Bull is involved so it’s hip as hell… And with personalities like Tanner Foust involved and Scott Speed, there’s the celebrity factor too. I am especially interested in seeing the Ford Fiesta ST looking things err… Supercars compete with all the VeeDubb equivalents and Subi’s.

I’ll share a spotter guide once it becomes available. It seems the series is completely on top of things doing great marketing for their events down to the important things (like the spotter guides for the fans)… which I applaud them for! Great job…

I also understand there are still spots open for marshals in case anyone else in the area is interested. The event is paid apparently and a hotel room is provided. (or so I hope)

Welcome to Grand Prix Road Trip

This blog chronicles the adventures of an American Motorsport marshal around the world. Want to volunteer yourself? Click on each country flag for more information on how to get started, or check out the info by series and circuits from the menu on the left. Marshal Cam is a video channel that promotes volunteering in Motorsport, give it a whirl and get a free patch for your participation.
The Miata hobby was borne of Motorsport but took on a life of it's own. Follow Russ on his MX-5 Road Trips around the world meeting owners everywhere he goes.
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